ABSTRACT
The development of Middlesbrough's education services has followed closely that of the rest of the country in the last 75 years. But since the town is young, and its population is largely workingclass, containing a high proportion of young children,l its education problems have been especially acute. Education has been largely the responsibility of the local authority, yet since, on the whole, rateable values in the town are low, per capita receipts from rates are also low. In 1938-39, they were between £3 to £3 5s. Only Darlington and West Hartlepool of all the county boroughs in England and Wales had lower rate receipts.2 The income of the local education authority from rates has, therefore, never been high, and since the establishment of the school board in 1870 up to the present day, the problem has always been how to provide adequate education facilities for a proportionately large number of children at the lowest possible cost. In recent years, central government grants have slightly mitigated this difficulty, but the problem still remains.
